Xbox almost as old as Sega between their 1st and last system

So, if we consider Master System as the first proper SEGA console, then the Xbox brand is almost as old as the period that lapsed between Master System's launch and Dreamcast death.

How could you compare achievements of these two companies in the span of their lifetimes? How could you compare "successfulness" of each of gens for SEGA and Xbox in their respectable timelines?

Your thoughts?

Your thoughts?

??? WAT?

Microsoft did not have it's Japan arm and Western arm fighting over who gets to make a game console, so they are in a better position than Sega was.

Xbox is still 4 years off, unless you mean Segas first internationally released console, then it's 2 years off.

Xbox has Halo. Xbox did more for console gaming. Online is huge and Xbox did that properly first. Sega just had Genesis and Dreamcast which are fantastic consoles, but none of which are revolutionary.

I have far better memories of Sega Genesis, Game Gear and Dreamcast than anything Xbox has churned out.

I've felt that MS Xbox was the continuation of Sega DC so I dunno, it's all good I suppose I only wish MS would have made Sega a 1st party Xbox dev with all their IP's in the early 2000's then it would be all great. :P

MS would have had too have taken the losses Sega was struggling with and still would have ended up having to nitpick which IPS should be tried out, if at all anyway due to the risks associated and they would have cut a ton of content, developers, funding, and etc. to only certain franchises just like Sammy did. Only real difference would be MS may have put out a couple more games without fear of high losses like Sammy but it wouldn't be that different.

The only way that could have worked is if MS only took Sega of America from the whole company along with most of the ips (and some staff) and the rest of the branches crashed to the ground. Then they could build the studio up without having to take on financial responsibility.

In other words it's too crazy for it to happen in this dimension.

Back at that time there were many serious talks going on between MS and Sega to do just what I spoke of and from my understanding, SOA was all for it but SOJ was not and they call the shots and MS I think also backed away as well. It just seemed to be a good fit since if you remember, early on when Xbox launched, many Sega games came over exclusively for Xbox. Eh, it's all water over the damn now.

Yes there were talks, but not so much about buying Sega completely as it was to have them a partner, but some of that was the. Fact is Sega was already heading in a bad direction, they were making some decent money at the time, but themselves were in the hole and the long-term (like the next 2 years) didn't look good. Would have been a gamble.

I mean keep in mind this is the same Microsoft who already has Xbox being ready before the launch of the Dreamcast. At that point Sega's futures was iffy, then it looked bad at the tim of the Xbox official launch. I mean you have to look at the big picture, Sega already has money issues, and by that time later they were in the red, they were pretty much liquidating DC consoles and had only a few more pieces of game support left.

Microsoft would have to take the overhead and current losses, and lose money trying to restructure because they aren't taking all the staff. They then would have to be responsible for the left over hardware and would have to write-that off. At the end like Sammy, although maybe a bit less, they would have to cut heavily in certain areas. People overestimate Sega a lot with it's IPS from the DC.

People need to remember that the Genesis was lucky, otherwise IP wise Sega had not many system selling software. So taking risks along with inheriting losses from Sega would have been a dumb move the the then MS gaming division would have lost WAY more money then it did.

Sega is still the king. MS didn't punch out the games and IPs at the record pace that Sega did.

@bobrossperm: WUT? Xbox did more for console gaming? Xbox did online gaming properly first? It's a few days too late for April fools jokes.

I consider Xbox as a brand a continuation of Sega as a console competitor, especially considering the Xbox released as a new brand at the same time Sega left the market. The Dreamcast was a collaboration between Sega and Microsoft and then Microsoft went off and built the DirectX Box or Xbox as we know it now. I get a large Sega vibe from the original Xbox, 360 and now the Xbox One.

This largely has to do with innovation, experimentation, trying new things, new game experiences, just all around being bold and something different in the market, something Sega was known for. The PlayStation 4 and Wii U are very cookie cutter systems with what I view as very cookie cutter games, they're typical and what you would generally expect in a console/ from them. Microsoft's Xbox One is unique in a few ways and a game coming out like Sunset Overdrive has Sega/Dreamcast written all over it, they need to support more things like this.

Sega buried themselves by investing in crazy IP's, experimental type games, games that you wouldn't find anywhere else. Did this hurt them? Yeah, financially it ruined them, but did it give gamers some extremely amazing and unique games? Absolutely, the Dreamcast has some of the most iconic and memorable games I will have ever experienced in my life. I want to see a company go all out, get crazy, invest in risky games, invest in unique games, just in general be another Sega...

Microsoft is the only company I see with the ability, capital and brashness to do it, I hope they do.

@nyadc: There are a lot of accusations that can be leveled at Wii U. Calling it cookie cutter is literally the least accurate one.

Cookie cutter in terms of what you expect from a Nintendo system, especially as far as games are concerned. They are so regressive to change and every generation it's the same thing over and over again in new packaging.

I consider the Xbox brand to be the spirtual successor to Sega's consoles. Xbox consoles feel like what Sega's consoles would have been if they stayed in the console market.

Not sure I agree. Imo the X1 and PS4 aren't even a copy of last gen, they are a straight continuation. It's like the console prices were just a fee you have to pay to be able to continue gaming this gen. It's very disappointing to me how little has changed considering how long they had last gen to come up with something. It's beyond cookie cutter.

PS is winning the most disappointing gen ever imo.

The Wii U is the only different one.

The 360 is the only Microsoft console that would hold up favorably against the Sega Genesis, and I'd still probably side with the Genesis.

Microsoft has been aight, they've had their merit, and are probably going to be wildly more successful than Sega (they already are), but the best of Sega has more merit than the best of Microsoft. Sega's shitty stuff is just supremely shitty.

@nyadc: Still untrue. Things like Xenoblade X, The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, Monster Hunter 3, ZombiU, Devil's Third, Fatal Frame V, and Splatoon are far different from the traditional Nintendo lineup. And these are all quality high profile retail exclusives, not some obscure digital or late localized releases either.

It is hard to compare them as Sega has been around for over 50 years(I think?). THey are a games company, just like Nintendo. Microsoft only entered the market because the sight of monetary value. Sega helped shape the industry. I can't really think of one idea that Microsoft actually instilled in the industry other than dlc.

Sega had a lot of innovative things they pushed. 32x, 64x Sega CD. All things that worked on an existing console.

Microsoft is the new giant that pushes innovation. It may not always work but when it does, it defines a generation.

In a practical sense, what exactly? Other than the HoloLens stuff I can't think of much.

Virtual Fighter did more for the Fighting Genre than halo did for the FPS one.

NO the PS2 had socom online with voice chat on dedicated server before live was even launch,what is what lemming hype the most about the cloud.? Yeah dedicated servers sony was doing it before live was even out.

Non of the xbox were revolutionary.

That is because most sega fans moved to the xbox because they dislike the PS,i know for fact that from the group of friends i had which were sega lovers not one came to the PS,all jumped into the xbox because of their dislike for sony.

Uniquely weak without games and shallow.

Sunset Over drive is not a MS game is was invented by Insomniac which you lemmings hate as a company on PS3.

The only unique thing about the xbox one is serving as a redundant cable box.

Sega buried themselves for selling over priced peripheral and console that were kill fast in favor of another because they weren't selling.

32X,Sega CD,Saturn was to much people just stopped liking sega,basically from 92 to 94 they had 3 different hardwares.

The Sega CD December 91,the 32x,94 and the saturn 94 as well,all expensive.

The only game i can say it really hurt them was Shenmue the game was ultra expensive on a time where most games would not pass 3 o 4 millions,and the sales and score weren't that great.

That is funny because it is sony who bring newer games all the time and is not scare or creating non traditional games,and support it system with new games still the end when was the last time MS make a new IP.?

MS not Crytek or Insomniac what they do have it dollars,but it hasn't won them a generation yet.

That is funny how many Halo games and Forza games will be in total by the end of this year on xbox one.?

2 years and already 2 Halo and 3 Forza games,cookie cutter in terms of what you expect from MS systems specially as far as games go.

Ryse,SSO and games like those are not MS API.

Exactly.

Sega has such a huge line up of arcades games which i love it wasn't even funny to compare,I finish After Burner in Arcades more that 50 times,same with outrun,Shinobi,wonder boy i never got to the final boss but got pretty close,Monster lair like 40 times,Aliens,Who can forget Segas's time out,the mall i use to go when i was a kid had 2,i remember entering the small one which was on the first floor of the mall and you could hear their Aliens games in demo mode.

Damn those were the days,i love so much those arcades that i am building a Arcade cabinet to make an old arcade stile machine using Mame,and the Virtual Fighter era damn i most have dropped more than 500 in coins playing VF,sega did more in the 80's in 3 years than MS has done since it started.

I find it very strange how many Xbox fanboys try to associate themselves with Sega as if there is some sort of spiritual connection neither the Sony or Ninty fans understand. The Xbox One literally has zero Sega vibes it's not even funny. From it's design, it's OS, and everything else it feels like a windows PC if anything. Also, Forza has more of a Gran Turismo vibe and Sunset definately has a PS vibe too. I'm not saying Xbox is in any way bad because I disagree with your Sega statement, I'm just saying I don't see it. I think Xbox has an identity of it's own. The only Sega connection Xbox ever had was the Sega IP's coming to Xbox only.

SEGA on same timecycle managed to provide some of the most memorable and badass let alone revolutionary (in different ways) games for their consoles. Even Dreamcast , SEGAs biggest commercial failure managed to have some amazing AAA exclusive games in its short lifespan ( 1st and 3rd ) , unseen in any other console of its time.

MS with Xbox consoles on the other hand are all about Halo and Gears ... And thats it. SEGA all the way here , theres not much to compare.

Lets not fool ourselves here. Xbox revolutionized online gaming on consoles. Created an online ecosystem that Sony followed up on with the launch of the PS3. Do you think Sony would have a Trophy system if MS didn't have achievements a year before? They brought a lot of interesting shit to the gaming industry and for that, they will always be remembered. Halo was revolutionary man. It took FPS a step beyond the original Half Life in all honesty. Sure, it wasn't the first good FPS title, but on consoles, the best available was Perfect Dark on N64 before Halo.

And yeah, Virtua Fighter revolutionized fighters in a bigger way Halo did to FPS from a game design standpoint. But not so much in genre popularity. The only game to revolutionize a genre and it's popularity that isn't a Nintendo game is Gran Turismo. It changed racing games forever. And still to this day is a huge franchise likely outstripping Halo at least world wide.

@Heirren: Halos matchmaking became the grounds for Xbox live.

Xbox live itself was revolutionary with its party, party chat (later) and methods of keeping track of friends and games.

Kinect. A failure or success, it was still innovative.

When the Xbox was up against the PS2 it supported high speed internet. Futuristic at the time.

Xbox One introduced new innovative features. Suspend/resume and apps that you can snap while playing.

There are other little ones too!

SEGA was way more innovative with their games and had new IPs. SEGA all the way...............

Yes, but these innovations were being pushed by sega, as you put it yourself. The idea of online goes way way back to the NES/Master System days. Segas most popular was likely the Sega Channel, in the US at least. Then there's Sega Saturn with online, and Dreamcast supported broadband.

The matchmaking thing was a big innovation. I won't say it wasn't because it changed the format for online games. The other stuff like suspend/resume? That is only natural progression of technology in general.

In many ways Nintendo and Sega had the most innovative take on the console market and their vision was likely hindered because of Sony and Microsoft. NES was built with an expansion port. Genesis was built with an expansion port and could support mastersystem games through an add on. SNES had an expansion port. SNES introduced gpus on carts. Sega Saturn expanded its ability with a RAM cart. Nintendo 64 did so as well and was also built with an expansion port.

Most people overlook this. It is very interesting to think where things may be right now had consumer bought into a different means of console.

Gotta go fast!!!

In both directions of the spectrum! :D

No it did not the only thing MS really did first was charge freaking $50 for something every one was getting free.

Online play on its true form wasn't push by MS,sega did it first so did Sony.

Trophy have shit to do with online gaming Achievement work on offline xbox 360 is not something tied to online gaming.

That is total bullshit,Games like Golden Eye,Medal of Honor,Rainbow Six were as popular as Halo was and just as high rated,Halo wasn't even a MS game and in fact before the xbox was even announce Halo was a PS2 Mac game on development by Bungie.

Sure it did and just like Halo fighting games were already popular when VF landed.

wut?

PS is older though. Or do you consider Sega-lifespan to be some sort of sweetspot? i don't understand this thread.

1-P2P shit on a service that was $50 which now you criticize because live now have dedicated server for games,which sony use to have for its game back on 2002 on with socom and which live lacked.

2-friend list for $50 dollars and party chat which ruin team work on games.

3-Kinect is a copy of he eye toy you buffoon that is like saying the Nes was innovative because it was the first console,no it wasn't it was a more advance version of something already done,Kinect is an eye toy rip off.

4-The PS2 had high speed internet access,the network adapter of the PS2 was both 56 and ethernet,before live was even out,what did it serve you to have an ethernet port if you had to pay $50 to use it online.?

5-Suspend and resume was announce by sony before the xbox one was even unveil you idiot,the PS4 was unveil before the xbox one was and one of the features show was suspend and resume.

Wow, people really don't know there gaming history at all.....

RIP xbox brand and RIP lems.

Lol at microsoft being innovative. They haven't taken a chance since the original xbox. They almost did this gen and when they faced some backlash they turned into the most cookie cutter of the 3 consoles. Halo Gears Forza

The only thing Microsoft has done to the Video Gaming world was bring Direct X to it. (DX12 is gonna be a game changer)

AND make Cows Salty Sams last generation.

Are you alluding to a possible future in which Microsoft drops out of the console-manufacturing business and focuses solely on software?